The Gift of Honesty
by aoki meiwaru
Summary: If you've just earned your wings, what would you do if you could never tell a lie again?
1. Recovery?

Hello! Tsuriai here! This is the Gift of Honesty, my second fic here on fanfiction! I hope you like it! (I use too many exclamation points T-T)

Disclaimer: (sighs mournfully) I don't own yugioh, even though I dearly wish I could.

OK! On with the fic!

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Chapter one

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The brown haired girl sat at her favourite chair, the recliner, in front of her second-favourite activity provider: the television set. She was wrapped up in a large red blanket that she preferred over all others; it was heavy and fuzzy and therefore very warm. She should rightfully be in school at this moment, but she got sick Monday night and was still feverish and delirious, three days later. Her teachers and friends had called to ask if she was all right: she had never become this sick before. But her mother always reassured them that the fever never got above 101º and they were relieved.

But the girl wasn't. The fever had made her so weak that she could barely focus on the screen, which distressed her. On the TV right then was Yu-Gi-Oh, and it was an episode she hadn't seen before. What saddened her more was the fact that she couldn't keep her eyes open enough to read; her most favourite activity. Fanfiction reading was out-of-bounds for her current concentration skills. (A/N: gasp! Nooo! The poor thing!)

Having nothing to do, and feeling as if she would never get better, she started to cry. And when the first tear fell onto her lap an amazing thing happened. She started to feel better. She blinked and looked at her hand, where the tear fell, and thought that the further dehydration of her body dispelled all sickness her white blood cells were trying to eradicate. Such a thing, she thought, could only make sense if brought on by magic. But magic or no, she had to check her temperature.

Jumping up, she was surprised to find that she didn't become dizzy. She rushed to the bathroom and retrieved the electric thermometer. She wanted to be as accurate as possible. Putting a cover on it she pressed the button, put it under her tongue, and crossed her fingers.

Five minutes, and about twenty beeps later, the thermometer beeped three times, signaling its completion of temp taking.

She drew the thing out of her mouth, took a large breath in, and looked at the temperature reading in the little window.

"98.6!" she shouted, startling her cat. "Willow Anne Palmer, you are a miracle worker!" she started making her way to the phone, to call her mother, and stopped, thinking aloud. "If I call my mom now, she'll want me to go to school. So, I just won't call her."

And with that she made her way to the computer, passing by the grandfather clock whose hands pointed to 9:05. (Hooky!)

Willow flipped the switch to turn on the computer and drummed her fingers on the chair as she waited for it to boot up. When that was finished she opened the Internet window so it could go online. As it was dialing she went into the living room to get her blanket and settled it on her shoulders before sitting down again. The homepage started loading, but a little too slowly for her taste.

So she started messing with the monitor. She made it brighter and darker, with less and more contrast, and then started turning it on and off. One of the times it was off she thought she saw a person other than herself reflected on the glass. She turned the chair around quickly, hoping no one was there, and saw a faded out version of Malik Ishtar in her brother's room in front of her.

Willow jumped up from the chair, keeping her blanket on her, as the washed-out Malik started walking towards her slowly. She pinched her arm as a test and was rewarded with a sharp pain. "I'm not dreaming. How is this happening?"

The faded Malik cocked his head to the side cutely, as if trying to make out what she was saying, to no avail. Then his hair started to spike up and his eyes narrowed, telltale signs that his yami was taking over. This spelled trouble.

Willow started to back up and realized that the chair was right behind her. Marik was getting even closer now. She reached out her arms saying, "No. Stay away." But he kept coming closer. By now he was too close for her to run away from.

When her hands should have passed through him they met cloth and flesh, even though Willow could still see through him. She blinked in surprise and looked into his lavender eyes just before she blacked out and fell into the chair.

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When she came to, Willow was still in the chair, but everything seemed different. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, trying to figure out what it was when it hit her. Things around her were less detailed, less real, almost as if they were drawn....

She looked down at her hand and discovered that she was drawn-looking herself. That's when she started panicking.

She ran into the bathroom near the computer and looked into the mirror. Her face was blemish-free and her eyes were larger.

"I'm anime." She said and then realized what she said a moment later as she looked down at her waist and saw that she was much skinnier. Then her stomach growled and, true as can be, a sweatdrop formed behind her head in the mirror when she remembered she hadn't eaten yet that day.

After eating (grilled cheese sandwiches are so much easier to make in anime!), Willow went back to the computer to see if it still functioned like it did in the real world. And it did, bringing up some really cute pictures of Malik people had drawn. One of them was a chibi, with its head to one side in a quizzical manner. It was well drawn and very cute, but Willow couldn't quite place where she had seen it before. So she printed it out in hopes that she would remember later. When the printer dropped it onto the receiving tray Willow picked it up and started studying it, spinning in the chair.

She stopped spinning, however, when she got dizzy and felt like she was going to be sick. As it was, the way she stopped, her back was to the computer and she was facing the place where Malik was a short while ago. She held up the picture and gasped, remembering the look on his face just before he went dark.

When she brought the paper down she saw that the rod in the chibi Malik's hand had the eye facing forward, and there seemed to be a speck of glitter in the center of it. She tried to wipe the speck away, but it wouldn't move. And it seemed to be getting bigger. "Who ever heard of glitter growing?" she said aloud to no one in particular, as the 'glitter' took up the whole page and then filled her vision.

When the light went away everything seemed harsher, and darker, too. Willow looked around her and it dawned on her that she wasn't anime anymore.

"Was that all a dream?" she said, but a moment later saw her plate from lunch and the picture of Malik (with no glitter) on the floor. "No. It couldn't have been but then... what just happened?"

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Ha Ha! Cliffhanger! Bwahahahahahahaha! R&R please and thank you!


	2. Maybe I’ll stay this time?

Hey! I'm back! I got one review for this so I would like to thank Port-of-sea for your review. Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own yugioh and never will -sniff!- (we hear shouts of hooray in the background from Kazuki Takahashi)Waaaah!

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Chapter 2: Maybe I'll stay this time?

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As soon as the words were out of her mouth, a new thought occurred to Willow: that she may never be anime-drawn again. Her back slumped as she remembered how skinny she was and how good her lunch tasted. Willow rose from the computer chair mournfully, wishing she could have been anime for just a while longer.

She started walking to her room when several things happened at once: something on the roof creaked, the doorbell was rung, and her cat, Neko Chan, started growling and hissing.

"What's wrong, Chan?" Willow asked, making her way to the door. Her cat rarely acted like this, even in the middle of the night when no one else was home and there was a knocking sound on the television.

Willow got to the door and opened it to find a box on her doorstep, addressed to her from her father. She got a pair of scissors and started opening the box, walking out to her front yard at the same time. When she opened the box she found inside it her clay replica of the millenium puzzle that she left at her father's house.

"Strange that this should show up today..." she murmured, and looked up onto her roof to see what it was that made it creak. And, just as Malik was faded before, she saw a faded Yugi on her roof, looking down at her. A small "Ack!" escaped from Willow when she recognized who it was and she took a step backward, closer to the road.

Then she remembered how she had turned anime before: she came in contact with the character. But Yugi was on her roof! Willow knew that there weren't any ladders propped up against the house, and if she went to get one, she might miss her chance.

So she stood there, box in hand, thinking about what to do, while the faded Yugi was waving frantically and pointing to the puzzle around his neck. When she finally did look up and saw his actions, he started pointing to the box.

"The box?" Willow asked, knowing that Yugi couldn't hear her. She held it up and Yugi started nodding. "Oh! I get it now! I can't come in contact with you, but I can come in contact with the puzzle!"

And as she was speaking she reached into the box and when she touched the puzzle Yami took over his hikari and the light from before came out of both puzzles.

When the light cleared Yami was gone and, of course, Willow was an anime character again.

This made her happy again, and even more happy when her surroundings came into focus. She hadn't been outside the last time she turned anime. A wind picked up, and she felt elated. It was strange, seeing everything you had come to know and love under a whole new light. Everything looked new, and fresh, clean. The smells seemed to be the same, but stronger, and sweeter, and though the sky was covered with bright white clouds that would normally have hurt her eyes, they didn't now.

Something seemed wrong, however, as Willow's eyes became more adjusted to the new lighting. Although she lived in a suburban neighbourhood, Willow was starting to see faint outlines of concrete buildings, like those found in a city. _This can't be right. _She thought. _I don't live anywhere near a city like this._

The outlines became slightly more distinguished, and she saw on one of the buildings a sign that had writing on it. But it wasn't English, it was Japanese. And she could understand it. Willow was just able to make out what it said before the 'city' flickered and disappeared.

_Domino City Jewelers._

"Since when do I know Japanese? ... Oh, it must be the anime thing... this is so cool!" Willow started to walk into her house when she stopped. When the city started appearing she put the box and the puzzle on the ground.

She walked back out to the middle of the yard and picked up the box and then the puzzle. But, most unfortunately for her, the puzzle started gleaming, activating the switch back to the real world.

"Drat!" she shouted, during the change. "This time was even less than before!"

She stalked into her house, put the box and puzzle on the coffee table, and plopped down onto the couch, wondering all the while if she would be able to get back to the anime world. It was 2:16.

Somehow (probably after affects of the fever) she felt tired, so she decided on going to her bedroom for a nap. She laid herself down on her bed, but sleep never came. So she just settled on closing her eyes for a while.

As she lay there she thought of several things. Of her transformations so far, of how she transformed, and most importantly, she stared considering _why _all of this stared happening. She supposed it could be some sort of prophesy, or that the characters needed her help. But neither of those really made any sense. Maybe she was going insane.

But what was really happening was that after all of the fantasy stories she'd read or watched unfold, she had started believing in them. And when nothing in her world pointed to the existence of such things, she had started to lose hope on life. She loved living very much, and wouldn't ever think of suicide, considering how much she knew it would hurt the ones she loved, but was losing hope either way. So a higher power had been invoked and was helping her from becoming completely insane, out of kindness and sympathy.

She would never know that though. It was too complex.

Willow was startled out of her thoughts when the grandfather clock announced that it was 2:30. She then knew that she would never be able to take a nap at this rate and decided to walk around a little bit.

She had a hobby of constructing the outfits characters on shows wore, which is why she made the puzzle. She had also made a millenium ring. It was of lesser quality than that of the puzzle, but she cherished it none the less.

It was by this ring that she passed on her way out of her room. She spotted it suddenly and jumped for joy: she had thought it was lost. The ring had made a habit of losing itself from time to time, even though most of the time it was in plain sight.

Willow reached out for it and, just as her fingers brushed across it, the paper and dream-catcher wrought sennen ring glowed a bright yellow and she was knocked unconscious. She fell on her back, fortunately, in an empty spot on her floor, sprawled out as if she had been physically shoved to the ground. Or as if she had slipped on something in the middle of a road...

Oddly enough, this time, there was no character appearance just before the transformation...

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He he! I'm going to leave it here for now. Just so I can post it before I pass out from exhaustion. I hoped you enjoyed it! Don't forget...R&R! Ciao! -tsuriai-


	3. Arrival

Welcome to...the third chapter of The Gift of Honesty! I'm happy right now! I'm listening to wild drive, drinking peach juice (it is sooo good!), and laughing about Shonen Jump for next month! 1: the translation to my pen name showed up in the yugioh section of it and 2: I've dubbed my friend Yuuri Ichigo because of a character she's similar to in bleach and a comment that she made about yugioh. Ok! I'll stop blabbing now and let you read this chappie!

Disclaimer: I may make jokes about it but I do not, under any circumstances, own yugioh! (I'm too happy to be sad)

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Chapter 3: Arrival

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The boy hurried back to his home after school. It had been an exhausting day, with tests in nearly all of his classes. He was just then wondering how his friends had fared. The last time there was a school-wide test they had gotten some of the lowest scores. This boy was different from his friends, academically, however. He studied and paid attention in class. But that's not very important now.

He was halfway home when it started to rain. He started to walk faster, his silvery-white hair becoming wetter by the minute.

Looking up to see if there were any breaks in the clouds, a raindrop fell into one of his lovely chocolate-brown eyes, which caused him to quickly shut both of them, and duck his head away from the sky. His name was Ryou Bakura.

Ryou was nearly home now. He passed by the telephone pole that still had a 'lost cat' sign on it that he was told had been there for five years now. Just as he passed the pole, a bolt of lightning from the storm struck it and knocked the phone cable off of the pole.

"Ack! The phone cable! Yugi-kun was going to call tonight!" Ryou shouted as he jumped sideways, just in case lightning struck again.

Inside his soul corridor, Ryou's darkness, Bakura, the infamous tomb raider of ancient Egypt stirred. _'Go back. I want to see if it happens again. It was pretty.'_ He said.

"PRETTY?!? Try DANGEROUS! We're not going back there. Besides, lightning doesn't strike the same place twice." Ryou argued with the voice in his head as the rain started to let up. He was just across from his house now. He looked up, for cars, and instead of seeing a car, he saw a person. They were lying in the middle of the road, almost as if they had gotten hit.

Ryou rushed over in alarm, but saw no blood. He started to shake the girl, for it was indeed a girl, but her short golden brown hair was the only thing that moved.

Then a car pulled around the corner a few blocks away and Ryou started pulling the girl up to his home. He just had her on the sidewalk when the car passed him. It was full of loud, college-aged looking guys. "Drunks." Ryou muttered to himself, annoyed.

_'You say that like it's a bad thing!'_ Bakura protested to Ryou in his mind. Ryou sighed and picked up the unconscious girl, unlocking the door and taking her inside.

Even though she was soaked from the rain he laid her on his couch and covered her with a blanket.

_'I'm sleeping out here tonight.'_ Ryou announced to Bakura, using their mind-link.

_'But it'll be cold!'_ Bakura responded.

_'Do you think it's going to be any better for her?'_

_'You're too soft-hearted.'_

_'And you're too coldhearted, oh yami of mine.'_

That shut him up. For a while at least. Ryou went to get himself a blanket and settled himself on the recliner for a night of TV watching and waiting. Around eleven o'clock he fell asleep.

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Just before dawn, Willow stirred. And then groaned. 'Oooww! My head...' she thought. It would've hurt too much to open her eyes right now. 'It feels like I fell down in my driveway. But I was in my room...and my room is carpeted. Wait...it feels like I'm on my bed, or maybe the couch. This is softer.'

She cracked an eye open then, to see where she was, and bit back a gasp. _'This isn't my house at all. I don't recognize the chairs from any of my friends' houses. Wait. I turned anime again! But where am I? All the other times I turned anime I just stayed at my house. Maybe that's why my head hurts...'_

She turned her head to see more of her surroundings and had to hold in another surprised gasp. _'Bakura? No. Ryou. But that would mean...I'm in Domino. Oh! Of course! That jewelers' sign.'_

Willow sat up, holding the back of her head, and stared around her. Then she directed her gaze at Ryou. _'He really does look like an angel...'_ and as if on cue, little pastel bubbles and flowers and glints of light worked their way into her vision around Ryou. She started freaking out and remembered that this was anime, and that kind of thing happens in anime.

Then she looked around her again and spotted the kitchen. A smirk appeared on her face as she got up to make breakfast, being careful not to wake Ryou.

Forty minutes and nearly two chopped up fingers later she had eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, and oranges set out on the table decoratively. She didn't know what Ryou or Bakura liked for breakfast (except for raw things for Bakura. Eww.), so she made a little bit of everything. After eating what she had kept on the side for herself, she lay back down and pretended to be asleep. She had somehow (even through all of the cursing about her fingers) managed to not wake Ryou. For that she was proud. The sky was turning pink.

Ryou woke just after dawn. It took him a moment to recall why he was out in his living room with his back slightly cramped from the position. He looked over to the girl. She was alive, at least, and breathing. That was good. But he wondered how she had gotten like that; sprawled on the wet road with no visible signs of — Hey! What was that smell? It was like an American bed and breakfast in the morning, but without the other residents. Ryou looked over at his kitchen and found the source of the smell. The girl must have gotten up (a few minutes ago, judging by the steam) and made him breakfast. But why hadn't she left? Maybe she wanted to wake him up to thank him or something polite like that.

_'Hey, Yam—'_ Ryou started, but realized that Bakura wouldn't want to be woken up this early in the morning. _'ah, well, all the more enjoyment for me'_ he thought, looking longingly at the food. _'Maybe I should wait until she's up?'_

_'No. You can thank her when she gets up. Besides, would you really want all of this to get cold? She must have thought you never eat, with how much she made.'_

_'Yami! Don't do that! I thought you were asleep!'_

_'A thief never sleeps!'_

_'Then how come your snoring keeps me up half the night?'_

_'A-ano...'_-.-U

_'Victory!'_

Just then there came a knock at the door. "Who could that be? Oh yeah! Yugi!" Ryou remembered.

_'Yugi?'_ Willow thought, eavesdropping.

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Bakura: How do you eavesdrop indoors?

Ryou: That is a good question. Tsuriai?

Tsuriai: ...umm....-.-U Not sure.

Ryou & Bakura: -anime fall-

Tsuriai: Heh. R&R! Ciao!


	4. Making Friends

Tsuriai: This chapter has been so annoying! I first typed it up months ago (sorry for not posting) but it was on a word processor and the file wouldn't work on the computer. To top it all off I was behind with all of my work, had to catch up, and then went to my dad's for two weeks (no comp).

Ryou: Sorry about that. Really horrible luck.

Yugi: Yeah that does stink.

Tsuriai: Thanks you two. (Looks at them both in a misty-eyed way, then snaps back to attention) Right. So, here's the disclaimer: just as my dad doesn't own a computer, I don't own yugioh.

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Chapter 4: Making Friends

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Ryou answered the door, hoping it was Yugi and not another puppy-bearing postal worker (another story in process). When he saw who it was he sighed inwardly. "Hi Yugi," he said. "Come in."

"Are you ready to go to the arcade? I'm sorry I couldn't call you, the phone lines were out." Yugi explained.

"Heh, yeah. I noticed that." Ryou said with a sweatdrop forming at the back of his head. Willow could see it perfectly: Ryou's back was toward her. She couldn't see Yugi yet, though.

"Actually, I can't come with you, Yugi." Ryou said, moving out of Yugi's way so he could come in. "I've got to stay here today."

Willow quickly shut her one open eye, trying to look like she was asleep. Yugi saw her on the couch and asked Ryou, "who's that?"

"I don't know. I found her on the road last night and she was unconscious, so I brought her inside so a car wouldn't hit her. She's been awake since then; she made me breakfast. But I wasn't awake then, so I couldn't ask her what happened. She looked like she was running and had slipped. The road was really wet."

Yugi listened in interest and when Ryou was finished they both looked at her. "Should we wake her up?" Yugi asked.

Just then Willow got a cramp in the arm that was holding her up, and she shifted to get more comfortable. The boys both thought that the movement was her waking up.

"Looks like we don't have to." Ryou started, as the two of them leaned closer. When she showed no further signs of awakening, they collapsed, classic examples of anime falls. (Do the Japanese really fall like that in similar situations? Ryou: not really. It's an acting thing. Tsuriai: Oh.) When they landed on the ground she bolted upright on the couch, as if they had frightened her into the realms of the waking.

"Hey look! She is awake after all!" Yugi pointed out, ever the observant one.

"Baka. It's only because we woke her up." Ryou turned to Willow, "I'm sorry that my friend and I woke you up. Are you feeling well?"

"My head hurts, but I think I'll live" she said fluently in Japanese, to her surprise, with a touch of humour in her voice.

"Well that's good. Do you remember how you fell, in the middle of the road like that?" Ryou asked.

"Yes, actually" she had formulated a story in her mind: "I just got here, to Domino, and I had just stepped off of the bus with all of my stuff when this guy stole all of it. I tried chasing him, but he was too fast, even though he was carrying all of that stuff. I guess I slipped or something; I was really tired. And that is all I know. Then I woke up here and figured you had brought me in from the rain, so I made you breakfast to show my gratitude...thank you."

"I should be thanking you: it was a wonderful meal. Every time I try to make bacon I burn it to a crisp!" Ryou laughed, thinking of a past experience.

"So, what's your name? I'm Yugi Mutou. This is Ryou Bakura."

"My name is Willow Palmer." Instead of pronouncing her name the Japanese way, (it would have been hard to pronounce) she said it the English way.

"That sounds English. Are you from America, or maybe Europe?" Ryou asked.

"Yes. Heh. I'm from America. Oregon to be exact. (Wow! Oregon can be said easily in Japanese!) But I took a Japanese course up at the nearby college because I like the way it sounds." (LIES....)

"So, you're a college student?" Yugi asked.

"No. I just went there after school. I'm still in high school." Willow answered.

"Are you enrolled here yet?" Asked Ryou.

"No, I'm not--" she started, but cut herself off when Yugi stood up abruptly (he and Ryou had been sitting on the floor).

Yugi grabbed her wrist and started pulling her to the door, explaining himself cheerfully all the way: "Come on, you can register at our school, and meet our friends!"

"Yugi, are you sure that's such a good idea? I'm sure there are much safer schools to choose from (less perverted ones as well)" Ryou advised, following them and pulling his shoes on when they got to the door.

Yugi paused, thinking. "If anything bad happens, we'll be able to take care of her."

Ryou and Willow both knew to what Yugi was referring: the spirits of the millenium puzzle and ring. But Yugi and Ryou didn't know that Willow knew. And they couldn't know, either.

Willow would have to pretend that she didn't know.

"So," asked Willow, "where is this school of yours?"

"It's a ways away. We'll have to walk; do you mind?" Yugi asked.

"No, I don't. Do I have to buy a uniform?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"You have to wear one, but I think the office supplies some for free that you have to return at the end of the year." That was Ryou.

The three of them were walking down the sidewalk and were just about to turn a corner when someone called out to them.

"Yugi! Ryou! Hi!" It was Anzu, followed by Honda and Jonouchi. "We were waiting for you at the arcade, but you didn't show up, so we came looking for you! Who's this?"

"This is Willow. Ryou found her in the road last night and we're taking her to the school to register there." Yugi turned to Willow, "Willow, these are our friends Anzu Mazaki, Hiroto Honda, and Katsuya Jonouchi."

Willow bowed to each of them in turn. "It's a pleasure to meet you all." She turned back to Ryou and Yugi as they all started making their way to the school. Jonouchi was muttering to Honda.

"Isn't it strange how we can never make friends with tall people?"

"Like Kaiba?" Honda asked.

"Yeah. And here we're now friends with another shorter person."

Willow heard their conversation—Jonouchi was right behind her—and whipped around, stopping right in front of him. "I'm not THAT short!"

"Well, you're not as short as Yugi; I doubt if anyone is ("Hey!"), but you're at least an inch shorter than Ryou, and he's no giant."

It was true. Willow laughed when she saw that she was indeed shorter than Ryou, who was shorter than Jou and Honda. By then they were nearly at the school. Willow started walking backwards.

"So, who's this Kaiba guy?" she asked, acting.

"Do they not give Japanese news in America?" Yugi asked, interrupting Jonouchi's 'WHAT!?! You don't know who Seto Kaiba is!?!'

"I'm pretty sure they do, but I rarely watch the news, except for weather." Willow said. "So, who is he?"

Ryou responded the quickest: "He's the CEO of Kaiba Corporation. They used to make weapons, but he took control from his stepfather and started making gaming equipment."

"Have you heard of the game, Duel Monsters?" Yugi asked, gaining a nod from Willow. "Well, Jonouchi, Ryou and I compete in tournaments with him and he's sort of our rival. He can seem really coldhearted, but I don't think he is. He'll do anything for his little brother, Mokuba. Hey! You'll probably get to meet him. He goes to this school."

Yugi stopped and blinked. They were at the school. "That was fast." He said.

Willow turned around. "Wow! It's so much bigger than—" she was going to say 'it looks on TV' but changed it at the last moment, remembering her situation "—I thought it would be!" she hoped no one noticed the pause.

Yugi did. But he didn't comment. Instead he said, "I hope someone is here. It is a Sunday after all."

"Don't worry, they're here." Ryou started. "They're here on Sundays, so I know somebody's here."

"Why were you here on the weekend, Ryou?" Jonouchi asked.

"That was when I registered here." He answered. "How much do you know about Japanese History?"

"What?" '_That was random,_' Willow thought.

"There's an entrance exam you have to take and....there is....some history....on it. Are you alright?" Ryou turned to look at Willow and everyone else followed suit.

Willow was staring at her hand, shaking slightly '_I could've sworn I was fading a moment ago....' _She blinked and looked up. Ryou, Yugi and Anzu had concerned looks on their faces and Honda and Jonouchi were a few steps closer to the school, looking back and wondering why they had stopped.

"I-I'm fine." Willow forced a smile. "Don't worry about me."

This seemed to relieve Anzu, but Yugi and Ryou still had their doubts. They exchanged a look that Willow barely caught that said 'should we ask later?' and then Willow answered Ryou's question from earlier.

"I don't know much history, but I'm sure I could wing it. It can't be that hard, can it?"

"If you know your stuff." Willow turned to Yugi, who continued. "Only a small bit of it is history, the rest is math and science and stuff, but it is all really basic. Middle school level questions."

The group fell silent and then Jou asked, "Are we going to get a new student or what?" and they made their way to the building's main office.

Willow was thinking about the test. '_I hope it isn't too hard....I wish I knew more about Japan.' _

Personal Data

_Name:_

_Date of Birth: _

_Mo. / Day / Year_

_Address:_

_Telephone: _

_Parent/Guardian Name:_

Willow sat outside the office with the form in front of her, wondering what she should write. '_Okay. These first two I'll just answer truthfully.' _She thought. Willow filled them in and paused over the address line, the others looking on.

"Ano...." Ryou cleared his throat and gained the attention he wanted. He smiled nervously and continued. "I'll put in my home number and street number. Unless you'd prefer to live on your own?"

"Are you sure?" Willow was uneasy.

"Mm-hm" he nodded. "You cook really well."

She blinked. "It was just eggs" Willow mumbled, handing the clipboard over and blushing.

"Yeah," Bakura said, taking over but keeping his voice very similar to Ryou's "just eggs. And biscuits, and sausage. Am I forgetting anything?"

"Yes, actually" Willow said. Bakura hadn't completely masked his voice. "Where you got that sore throat." She smirked, knowing that she just put the tomb robber on the spot. "Well?"

Bakura panicked, and switched back with Ryou, subtly. A little too subtly, really. Ryou didn't know quite what happened and was a little lost. "What?"

"Heh. Nothing." Willow smiled. "You must have had a frog in your throat or something."

"Oh. Well, here's the form back." Ryou handed it to her, making a mental note to yell at his Yami later.

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

An hour later Willow emerged from the office triumphantly to join her new classmates in the hallway. "Heh." she said. "Victory" Willow made the ever-so-popular peace sign and sat down in the chair right outside the door. "The lady graded it then and there and said I only got ten of the questions wrong."

"Hey! That's really good!" Yugi exclaimed.

"Yeah, well. They were all history and geography questions" Willow grinned. "Told you I wasn't good at history."

"You still passed though." Anzu said. It was hard to tell whether it was a question or not.

"Yup." Willow held up the 'v' again. "And I'm even gonna be in your homeroom."

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

I'm going to leave it at that for now. I hoped you liked it! Please R&R! Thanks a bunch! I'll try to update faster next time. Ciao. -tsuriai-


	5. Blue Jay on the Moon

Well. I felt so guilty about not updating quickly that I started this chapter the morning after finishing the last one. I don't know when I'll be able to post it, but I figured I should start it now. I'm so happy. I had the first four chapters written before I came up with a plot, and now I even have a better title. It used to be A New Friend and a Mysterious Enemy, but that sucked, so I had it fit the plot better by changing it to its current title (it will make sense later). I went and changed the summary too. Okay. I'll start the story now. Bakura, would you do the honors of saying the disclaimer?

'Kura: Why do I have to do it? And what makes it so honorable?

Tsuriai: You get a crown of laurels for doing it. No one else is around.

'Kura: So you want me to look like Caesar now? I don't want to. Have the pharaoh do it or something. (walks away grumbling)

Tsuriai: T-T Who'll do my disclaimer then? (Sees Seto walking by and grabs him, whispering something in his ear, telling lies again no doubt)

Seto: (uneasily) Well, Ok. If it will get Mokuba back. (clears throat) Tsuriai does not, by any stretch of the imagination, own YuGiOh. (looks around) Where's Mokuba? You said masked men ran off with him.

Tsuriai: Well, umm.... He's.... Over there! Go get him! Quick!

Seto runs off and we hear buckets toppling over backstage as he stumbles looking for a nonexistent Mokuba.

Tsuriai: okay, well then. I'd best start this fic up again before he realizes I lied to him.... So here you go!

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

Chapter 5: Blue Jay on the Moon

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

"Does it fit?" Ryou asked through the bathroom door. Willow was trying on her new uniform after they returned from the school.

"Hmm? Yeah." She said spinning around to see what it looked like from the back. Aside from the fact that most of it was pink, it wasn't a very bad uniform. To keep her mind off of the shortness of the skirt, Willow just thought of what most people back in America had taken into fashion recently. Of course, this made her think of the first couple of pages in the Yugioh manga, and she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Ryou wondered.

"Oh, it's just a....personal joke" she said, wiping the tears from her eyes and coming out of the bathroom. "So, how do I look?"

Ryou considered the possibilities. After a pause he said, "Just like all the rest of the girls at Domino High."

"Yeah, I guess that's why they call it a uniform...." Willow murmured wryly, just loud enough for Ryou to hear.

"Wow! It all makes sense to me now!" he laughed, walking down the hallway. "Come here, I want to show you your room. I hope it isn't too small."

He opened the door and went in, Willow following soon after. When she saw the size of the room, her hands flew up to her face.

"It's not too small at all! In fact," she peered around, sizing up the room, "I think it's bigger than my old room back home."

"Well, it's actually the smaller of the two other bedrooms. The room that I don't use for my bedroom is used just for my tabletop RPG. Would you like to see it?" Ryou started walking out the door and Willow came warily, remembering just what happened at that table in the comic.

"I'll come see it, but I'm not going to play." Willow began. Then smirked, continuing "I've heard one too many horror stories of freaky things happening to players."

Ryou sweatdropped and froze momentarily, his shoulders hunched like he'd just been caught at something he wasn't supposed to be doing. He relaxed slowly, turning around to face her with a haunted look on his face. "Wh-what kind o-of stories?"

"Oh! Nothing too horrible! Just the players souls being put into the pieces." Willow started shaking from repressed laughter. "Now where did I read that? I think it was a comic book or something. Are you alright?"

Poor Ryou. He was staring at Willow like he'd seen a ghost; her story was so accurate to what his Yami had done a while back. Meanwhile Bakura was rolling around, laughing his head off at his hikari's reaction, until Ryou came and mentally yelled at him to shut up. Then Ryou came back to the real world, shaking Willow's account of the story off as a fluke.

"I-I'm fine. We don't have to play anything. In fact, I don't think I'll play for a while...." He looked up. "Here we are." He opened the door, admitting them both in, and then turned on the lights. The table was covered in a cloth, to keep off the dust, which Ryou removed so Willow could see the miniature world.

"It's so cute! Maybe we could play sometime, with Yugi and them." She turned to Ryou. "I think that would be fun."

"Well, only if they want to. I don't think they'll be too interested in the offer." Ryou turned to go.

Willow turned to follow, but as she was going something caught at the corner of her eye. Down on the floor something was shining, just inside the door. (stops running for a moment. Hey! That rhymed! Seto: My ass that rhymed! Get back here! Tsuriai: Meep!) She bent down and scooped it up, to see what it was.

"Willow, are you coming?" Ryou looked back.

"Yeah, wait a moment." Willow said, and followed him as he led the way back to the living room. She looked at the thing as she walked. It looked like a little sword, with a leather handgrip and everything. "Ryou, what's this?" she held it up for him to see.

He took it into his own hand and brought it closer to the light. They were in the kitchen, but the overhead light wasn't on so it was a bit harder to see.

"Hmm....it looks like one of the swords for the RPG that I, er, made. Was it on the floor?" Willow nodded. "Well, I'll just put it back." He started walking out. "Could you get some pans out? I'm going to make lunch."

"Gasp! Oh no! Anything but that! Someone save me before it's too late!" Willow joked as he left the room chuckling.

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

Willow eyed the food beadily, looking up at Ryou every once in a while. "Do I really trust you?'

Ryou laughed. "I'm eating it. That should be good enough. Besides, I trusted your food this morning."

"Yes but, you said that you weren't very good at cooking." She started poking the rice with one of her chopsticks.

"I've had to come this far without killing myself" Ryou took a large bite off his plate and stuffed it in his mouth to emphasize his point, and started choking. He recovered before Willow could get up to help him, and to make him feel better Willow successfully ate a large bite without dying. But she did play around a bit more by acting out a big death scene, rise from the dead, and gobble down the rest of the food from her plate.

"Ha, ha. Very funny," he drawled, and finished the rest of his food, getting up to wash the dishes at the same time.

Willow got up too. "Can I help? I'm sort of a neat freak when it comes to washing dishes."

Ryou looked over at the pans, which had some sauce caked on it. "Suuure.... You get to do the pans."

"Okay" she said hesitantly, then brightened "Lead the way!"

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

"Right, so.... Ummm.... That movie was.... Interesting."

"Yeah, wasn't it though? I know it was in English, but you were still able to follow the story line, right?" Willow looked up hopefully.

"H-hai. An impossibly large shark tries to eat everybody, but the 'heroes' kill it. Heroically."

"Yeah" a sparkle came into her eyes "wasn't it the greatest?" false enthusiasm.

"Errr...." Ryou hesitated.

And Willow started to lose her composure. "Oh, come on and admit it, that '80's rental was tear-jerkingly boring. I'm surprised you sat through it all."

"Well I was sorta spacing out most of the time. But when I was watching..." Ryou paused. "It was horrible! How could anyone give that, what, _four_ stars?"

"I _know!_ I just wanted to see if I wasn't the only one who thought so. My little sister loved it for some reason. Hey!"

"Huh? What is it?"

"The moon just rose. Sugoi, ne? It's full tonight.... Wow...." Willow was at a loss for words for once about something beautiful. Then an idea struck her. "Do the stairs go to the roof?"

Ryou looked at her strangely. "I believe they do. It's a bit late in the season for a moon-viewing party, don't you think?"

She shrugged. "I guess so. But you have blankets right? And I've never been on a high roof before." She was opening the nearest closet door to look for blankets, bringing a sigh out of Ryou.

"We don't need blankets. It isn't so cold that we can't use jackets." He went to get a couple of coats, with an enthused Willow locating her shoes at the door. When Ryou returned they left and went down the hall and up to the roof.

A blast of icy air greeted them as it wrenched the door out of Ryou's grip. The two made it a few steps out when Willow said "Oooo! It's so cold! Maybe we should have brought those blankets after all!" and turned to go back in. But the wind had whipped the door closed noiselessly behind them and forced Willow to cover her eyes from the flying dirt.

A sudden gust knocked her to the ground and made Ryou stumble. He knelt beside her. "Daijoubu?" he asked.

"Yeah, but, what's causing it to change direction like that?"

"I've got no clue—but there wasn't any wind before. One of my windows was open." He looked up at the door. "Come on. We should probably get back inside—" Ryou started getting up, but even more wind kept him from getting far. Meanwhile Willow looked for an alternative way off when something caught at her attention.

"Hey, Ryou. You know what a blue jay looks like, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Are they common around here? The bright, bright blue ones?" she turned to look in his direction.

"No. Where do you see a blue jay?"

"Over there" she pointed "on the power line." Willow got up and walked closer to her query in the lack of wind (somehow it let up). "Whoa. It looks like it's on the moon."

"Willow, I don't see any birds." He half turned to the door. "Let's go in while the wind is down."

At those words the Wind popped back up again, weak at first, but then with enough renewed strength that it pushed Willow to the edge, and over.

Willow was just thinking 'maybe it was a pet....how come it's so bright? The moon isn't shining on it, so what—?' when the wind pushed her that last bit. To Ryou it was like time slowed down. He turned to the door and the wind went past, knocking him down, and watched in fear as Willow fell, without any time to even shout for help, just barely catching the edge of the railing.

And just like that the wind died off completely, without a trace of it's ever being existent.

And time regained its natural speed as the Jay flew off, in a burst of light.

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

#. # Ooooooooowwwwwwww! (rubs head) Seto that hurt! (moans in agonized (but fake) pain)

Seto: You deserved it! Now, where's Mokuba!?!

Mokuba: Here I am, Big Brother!

Seto: Where have you been? Never mind. Let's go before she starts forcing cookie mix on us. (leaves with Mokuba)

Me: (gets maniac glint in eyes) hee hee hee, cooookiiieeee dooooooooooouuuughhhh. brotherly fluff.... bwah ha ha.

Ryou steps in, takes one look at me and rushes to the phone, pushing the speed dial.

Ryou: Yeah, Hi. Yami Psychiatric Ward? It's me, Ryou. Hi Jake. Listen, could you get over here quick? No, no it's not Bakura. It's Tsuriai. she's going on about cookies and fuzziness....I think 'Kura's a bad influence. Anyways, now she's drooling. Ack! Get offa my Leg! (thump in the background) Yeah, yeah. I'll get the straightjacket out of the closet. Okay. Thanks. See you in a bit. Okay. Bye. (phone clicks onto the reciever) C'mere Tsuriai. The nice young men in the clean white coats are coming to take you away.

Me: Ha, ha!

Bakura: Ho, ho, hee, hee!

Ryou: (facefault) Very funny. anyway, as soon as she's recovered, she'll post another chapter. R&R!


	6. Truth Be Told

Gomen! Last chapter's title is my friend Abby's idea. I'm just borrowing it!

Kheh heh heh. –pant– they'll never find me here. –hooks comp. to extension cord leading away from under a very thin bush yards from the mental institute– mmm....pineapple pork. So sweet. Don't own ygo, but that doesn't matter when you've got meat this good on your birthday (19 Aug.) –looks around nervously– must start storie. MY MEAT! MY PRECIOUS! –_gollum, gollum!_– kheh heh heh. enjoi my ficcie, yes precious meat....mwah hah hah.

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

Chapter 6: Truth Be Told

­­--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

"YIIIIIIEEEEEK!!!" Willow screamed, flying over the railing, catching hold of it at the last moment. _'Oh, kami-sama, what did I do? Eh? The bird is glowing—?'_ Willow watched the vanishing bird and promptly lost grip on the rail in one of her hands. "Ahh! Help!"

Of course, Ryou was already there and reached out for her hand, and pulled with all of his strength (not much) but wasn't able to pull her up far before she started slipping. (yiee....scary harry potter music....making me do this to poor Willow-chan....shivers down my spine)

'_Yami....'_ Ryou began in his mind _'a little help here....'_

'_What am I s'posed to do?'_ Bakura inquired.

'_I dunno—switch places with me'_ Ryou strained, panting with the effort, and instead of waiting for a reply, shoved Bakura into his body, relinquishing control for the moment. _'Don't drop her!'_

Bakura nearly did, though, but caught her before he, too, went over. "Damned hikari, so weak" he muttered, bringing Willow to safety with ease. Before he could switch back she noticed the difference.

"Ryou, thanks.... Is your hair spikier? How'd ya do it?"

'_Oh, shit. Ryou, switch back now'_ Bakura panicked.

'_No! She'll notice that! Just fake my voice and say that it was the wind or something.'_

"Umm...." Sweatdrop. "Spiky? More than usual....?"

She nodded. "Yup."

"I-I don't know...." His best impression of Ryou's voice was completely convincing. "Maybe it was the wind?" Bakura started to settle his hair down a little bit.

"Maybe, but...." She paused.

"But what?" more subtle hair settling.

Willow pointed up toward his nose; she had him caught! "Did the wind also make your eyes narrower and more...._evil_ looking?"

'_Ack!'_ they chorused.

'_Ehhh....eh....just turn away, and change back completely'_ Ryou ordered. 'Kura did as told. (Whoa!)

"I don't know what you mean." –niku– "We should get back inside. If we can, that is" (niku is smile)

"Sure...." She turned to the door. "Maybe if we run?"

"Heh. That might work." He got ready to run. "Let's go on three, alright?" _'Heh. Completely distracted her.'_

"Kay. Ichiniisan!" she rushed and ran off.. "Hayaku, Ryou-cha–n!" _'Not gonna fool me that easily. I'll just bring it up later....'_ (ichi-nii-san is one-two-three & hayaku is hurry up)

The door handle firmly in her grasp, Willow yanked on it. A bit harder than was needed. She ended up toppling into Ryou (behind her) and losing her shoe (?).

"The wind did stop, y'know."

"Ha—yeah." She straightened quickly, trying to find her shoe and blushing a deep crimson, glad that it was somewhat dark. "Go ahead, I'll catch up"

"Okay. Remember—it's 201."

"Right. I don't think I'll be that far behind, though." She turned to find the shoe, having a hard time of it in the semi-darkness.

Finally she did locate it, close to the fire escape and as she stood back up the wind (oh, not again) regained it's earlier strength (first part was only a distraction), blasting her onto the steps, which she slipped on due to yesterday's rain.

All the way down she went in a tight little ball, having enough momentum to go around the turns and not enough time to grab the rails. By the time she was near the bottom she was nearly soaked through and had flakes of rust and grime all over her. Naturally, it was the new uniform that she was wearing still.

She didn't dare shout, or even open her eyes because she could feel the chips coming off. Her eyes popped open, however, when she started to go into a free fall, and frantically started flailing her arms to catch the ladder, which, due to the way it was built, shifted and lengthened to reach the ground when she caught it.

Ryou, meanwhile, was still going down the stairs, humming to himself, as not two minutes had even passed yet. And Yugi, the little klutz (not really) was piecing the puzzle back together in his room at the top of the game shop as he had slipped and dropped it getting out of the shower. Of course, we can't forget Malik-sama, at the supermarket, buying some Midol for Isis, to be dropped off shortly.

Poor Willow, so ignored and forgotten, now dangling at the end of the ladder, three feet above the ground.

She let go, only to land rear-first in some mud, the rustflakes falling like snow all around her. And to make matters worse, (sorry Willow!) when she stood up she noticed a couple of muscly-looking thugs at the end of the alley. She backed up instinctively and when they started to follow she turned and darted past a third creep, running with all her strength to get away, hoping they weren't very fast on their feet. At the road she turned left, not knowing where to go, but keeping to the side of Ryou's apartment building.

When she didn't find another alley on the other side, Willow dashed across the street (no cars) with the thugs close behind her. She found another alley and went in, coming out near a brightly-lit store. But without even glancing up to catch the name of it, instinct kept her running faster and faster to an unknown destination.

Willow found another alley and went down it, hearing the footsteps hot on her heels, until she came out at a very busy street, even at this time of night, turned right and ran off, the thugs' footsteps dying out instantly.

She then turned and saw that the guys were a few blocks away and one of them was holding something up, whatever it was, it looked like a gun, so Willow tried to run again. Out of exhaustion, she failed to see the can in front of her and tripped over it just as the thing went off, lighting the street blue and further allowing her uniform to become a colorless mess from the street scum.

Willow stumbled to her feet, knees and hands scratched up and bleeding. "Oww.... I need to wash-" she looked up. "Crap. Now I'm lost." Willow looked around sleepily, trying to find a road marker, even though it wouldn't help her any. "What were they chasing me for anyway?" she started jogging sloppily in her former direction. "Should find a phone book.... So tired –cough–"

She closed her eyes for a moment and crashed into someone. "aah. Sumimasen. Sorry bout that." She stumbled.

The person caught her and said, "no, it's ok. Are you alright, though?" he said setting her down on a front stoop, looking at one of her hands.

"nnn.... 'ts nothing...." She looked at his face, her vision blurring. "Malik?"

"Wha-- how-?" he caught her again as she passed out. "How did you know my name?" he asked the unconscious form, picking her up and carrying her up the stairs and up to his sister's apartment, where he was going.

"Ooooh.... Isis is really not going to like this...."

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

I shouldn't have ended it that way. I let myself get into a three and a half week long block.

Shame on me.

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

Up on the wall was a clock. It was an unfortunate clock, however, because for the past few minutes it had been stared at incessantly by one Ryou Bakura.

After five of those treacherously long minutes Ryou snapped, rising with a muttered "where could she be?" to find out why Willow was taking so long. He left his apartment and went up the stairs and back up to the roof, slightly more frustrated at each step higher without her presence.

When he got to the top, he clearly saw that she wasn't there and began worrying. Ryou walked out a few steps, pulling out the millenium ring from under his shirt, calling on its power to find Willow. Two of the spikes rose and pointed toward the fire escape (where else?). Just as the ring activated the ladder clunked back into its place after its slow ascent post-Willow-fall. (not a real word/phrase. nothing else would fit)

He rushed over to the steps and swung himself onto them, trying to not slip on the wet rust. At the bottom Ryou saw the indentations in the mud and followed the prints out of the alley, keeping to the trail based on the ring.

Ryou paused to get his bearings and found that he was outside of the supermarket that he normally shopped at. Even though it was relatively late, there were a couple of rough-looking types outside eating marshmallow peeps. Ryou shivered in disgust. Easter was months ago, so those things had to have been ancient.

Bakura, asleep in his soul room, would've grossed Ryou out further by saying that peeps got better with age.

Either way, peeps are gross.

Turning back to his quest, Ryou noticed that he was being led in the general direction that was somewhat familiar to him.

He let the ring settle down on its string and continued on to Malik's home.

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

Tihs is jsut for the hlel of it. I tnihk it's cool taht, no mtetar waht oerdr the ltretes are in, as lnog as the fsrit and lsat ltretes are in tiehr crecort pclae, the mnid is slitl albe to raed the wrod as a wlhoe, lneavig it comhsipenreble.

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

Ah, warmth. What a blessing it can be, slipping into a heated consciousness after a long, hard day of running around and falling down. But alas, with the warmth of the waking world also comes the cold, and the pain. Wait....pain? That wasn't in the deal.

Willow attempted sitting up, now fully awake and aware of every scrape, nick, and scratch of last night's 'adventure'. Or was it still the same day?

She quickly noticed a few bruises as well and groaned, gaining the attention of the room's occupants.

Isis rushed over with a pack of ice, saying, "you shouldn't move around, it might make matters worse." She put the ice over what seemed to be the worst of the injuries: a large abrasion on Willow's right arm with a medium-sized gash in the middle that had been cleaned up and dressed while she was unconscious.

"How long've I been out?" Willow asked groggily.

Malik came forward chuckling. "About ten minutes, give or take. Surprising, since you were in really bad shape." He paused to think about something. "By the way, how did you—"

'Ding-dong!' the doorbell rang out, not a second too soon.

"Who could that be?" Isis asked.

Malik turned. "Dunno. I'll go check." He left the room.

Willow strained her ears, trying to hear, but the insulation was installed too well. Isis looked back at her. "You must be hungry. I'll go make you something." She said and took the same path as her brother.

All alone now, at least for a few moments, Willow decided to check herself over, looking to see just how badly she had damaged her flesh. Aside from her arm, everything else wasn't very serious, just skin deep. By now Willow was very glad she'd gotten her tetanus shot recently.

"—So you think it might be her?" That was Ryou's voice, gaining in volume as he came closer.

Now Malik spoke: "Well, she fits your description...." They entered the room. "Hi, there! D'you recognize him?" Malik thrust his thumb at Ryou.

"Yeah, I—" Willow began.

"Willow!" Ryou shouted. Malik started rubbing the ear closest to him in 'pain'. "What happened? You're a wreck!"

"Yeah, I noticed. I kinda fell. Several times."

"That doesn't tell me how you ended up here, of all places, and not on the roof, finding your shoe." Ryou sat down next to her.

"What?" Malik asked. "Shoe?"

"Well I clearly found my shoe," she said, holding up her foot and pointing, "but then I ran into some trouble—" She went on to tell them about the thugs and the light. "I have no clue what they were after, though."

She looked up just as Isis came in with a plate of some random Egyptian food and Malik had a confuzzled look on his face. "But—" he started, "how did you know my name?"

Just as the question mark left his mouth, the door was torn off its hinges by none other than Rubeus Hagrid! Noooo.... That's just silly. But it was knocked down and when Malik-chan went to investigate he found that nobody was there. (_Sorry! I have to stop for a moment to stop laughing! The 'Noooo.... That's just silly' thing isn't mine. My new English/history teacher does that at least once every class period about random things and he does it almost subconsciously; everyone can't help but laugh_)

"What on earth was that?" Willow asked. She and Ryou had gotten to their feet and were following Malik's path to the entranceway.

"I don't know.... Whatever it was, it's disappeared." Malik went to look just outside the door.

Willow started to shiver. "It must have had a lot of energy, that thing, or person." She pointed to the now useless hinges. "The hinges are completely snapped in half. It's kinda scary."

'_Rrrrrrrrrr....' (this would be 'go go go go' in Japanese)_

"What's that?" Willow asked.

"It's—" Ryou started, then sensing a problem shouted, "Malik! Get down! It's a backlash!", grabbing Willow and pulling her down just as the room and hallway beyond were engulfed in a bright azure glow. The wreckage that resulted was worse than when the door was knocked down. At this blast the floor cracked and Ryou, Willow and Malik all went tumbling down into the basement air. Malik managed to catch hold of the remains of the floor, but Ryou and Willow had less luck.

Ryou grabbed hold of her to keep the injuries down on her part, and not wanting to get hurt any more than she already was, Willow started panicking.

Then all of a sudden, the two of them stopped falling.

They weren't on the floor —they were close, though— and Malik hadn't caught them, but rather they were floating. And now Willow was holding Ryou instead of the other way around.

Ryou looked up. "Willow, what—" He blinked. "You—you've got—"

Willow opened her eyes. "We didn't fall?"

"Yes. But—you—"

By now Malik had hoisted himself back onto what was left of the floor. "Hey!" he yelled. "Daijobu!?!" (are you ok?) "Wha-! You didn't tell me she was a tenshi!"

"What?" Willow turned her head to look up a bit. "Angel?....Kyaaaa! I've got wings!?!" At this she lost any concentration and plopped with Ryou onto the hard floor, a couple of feathers flying loose.

"You're dead?" Ryou was confuzzled. "Was this before or after that creep took your bags?"

"No—it's—"

"What _is _going on?" Malik called out. "I feel like I'm missing something important. Hang on—I'll come down there."

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

"Well, you see....um," Willow started. "I wasn't really completely truthful when I told you about the guy that mugged me, Ryou."

"Wha—? Then what actually went on?" Ryou asked.

"You were mugged?" Poor Malik, so uninformed. "I wanna know what happened!"

Willow ducked her head. "Well, you don't get to know what happened, since it never happened in the first place!" she looked up again when Ryou repeated his earlier 'Wha—?' and Malik shifted to a more comfortable position, knowing an explanation was coming.

"Yeah....there was no mugger, no stolen baggage, in fact, I didn't even get here on a bus."

"So," Ryou started, "everything is a lie?"

"No! Not everything." She corrected. "My name is the real deal."

Malik cut in. "Speaking of names...."

Willow turned. "Sorry about that, I was kind of out of it, but maybe it was a good thing I let that slip. I've been a bit of a bad person lately."

"What are you, a spy?" Malik asked.

"No, I'm just not from around here. Like this city, country, or this general world."

Jonouchi must've been rubbing off on Malik. "So now you're saying that you're ET or something?"

"I think..." Ryou guessed, "that she means another dimension," he turned to Malik, "like the shadow realm, you know?" He stopped. "Oh Willow, there's something we need to tell you, too."

"Well, you don't need to." To their confuzzled looks she added, "I already know about the millenium items and all that."

Malik and Ryou both looked even more alarmed than at the discovery of the wings that Willow knew about 'all that'. So Willow explained herself a bit more, "where I come from, my 'world', let's call it, Magic doesn't completely exist, nor does Kaiba Corp, or Industrial Illusions, or any of you, for that matter."

"That must be a pretty shitty world, then."

Willow and Malik turned to Ryou, who was now Bakura, who then shrugged and said, "Eh, you already know about us, so what's the point in staying inside?"

"I guess you're right." Willow shrugged too. "Oh, but wait. Oh no! Now I can't freak Ryou out by mystically 'knowing' about all the weird things you did, Bakura! Crap. Oh," she replied to the questions that she was asked silently, "In my world, you two and Yuugi and everyone else are just characters in the story, and, judging by the way you've acted, the story followed the actual events accurately...."

"Okay, so then, how come you've got these wings if you aren't dead?" Malik asked.

"Well...." Sweatdrop. "I have no idea." Willow tried moving them and found that she could, then brought them in close so she could look at the feathers' colors.

"We can try to figure it out at school tomorrow." Ryou looked at his watch. He'd gained control again a few minutes ago. "It's already way past midnight. We should get home."

"If you're sure that's ok?" Willow stood up. "Should I really go to school with these? I don't think they tuck in or disappear or—what?" At her word the Wings went out of sight and Malik was looking at the spot where they just were. "Well."

"Yeah, let's go now. See you tomorrow Malik." They started leaving the basement.

"Uh huh." Willow said. "Thanks for putting up with all this confusion."

"It's ok. Things were crazier during Battle City. Bye guys." Malik stayed at the top of the basement steps as Ryou led Willow out of the house. He stared down to the semidarkness. Something had seemed very strange about the color of those feathers. It just reeked of something ancient, like the Sennen items.

That strange, bright white and blue had left a void when it disappeared.

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

finally done! This chap. took me from 19 Aug to 13 Sep. Sorry for procrastinating so much! R&R if you still love me at all! _Ciao!_


	7. Umbrellas Aren't Just for Blocking Rain

I….don't….own….Yuugiou! But I do own three….no, four others that are still in the making. Anou…. Genki desuka? No, wait….I need to start the story.

'Kura: Then start it already!

Tsuriai: All right, all right! Let me think up a title first! Geez. …. Ooh! Here's a good one!

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

Chapter 7: Umbrellas Aren't Just to Block Rain

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

The late summer sun filtered through the leaves above, casting green shadows all about. If one listened hard enough, they could hear the cacophony of the cafeteria across the field. But that's what made this place so special. One could eat their lunch in peace and serenity, or sit and read a graphic novel, leaving the world behind.

Not today, however.

"WHAAAAATT!?!?!?!" Yuugi shouted. "She's from the Shadow Realm?!"

Ryou shoved Malik lightly, while Willow uncovered her ears. "Malik, you suck at telling stories." He scolded.

"No, it's not his fault. Yuugi just didn't interpret it right." Willow corrected.

"What I think he means," Yami took over, "is that she's from another realm completely, right?"

"Oh. Pharaoh!" Willow prostrated herself before him, with her palms and forehead touching the grass. "Is this right?"

"It's— don't do that" Yami said flatly.

"YES, your MAjesty!" Alice/Willow said in response, coming back to her kneel to finish eating, but paused for a huge yawn, which was then transmitted to Ryou. "And also, we stayed up last night/morning and figured out how to work these—" Willow said, and at the command of 'appear' the wings sprung forth. Of course, they'd planted themselves behind a bush that was near the tree so passerby wouldn't freak out.

"Whoa. That's— whoa." Yuugi had gotten control again. "So…your realm is heaven?"

Willow, Ryou, and even Malik all collapsed; Yuugi was really off his game today!

The first to get up was Willow, who apologized then said; "anyone could mess that up. But no, I didn't come from heaven. I don't really know why or how I got these things in the first place. That's the main thing we tried figuring out last night.

"Oh, hey." She continued: "it could have been those guys."

Ryou started. "Guys? You didn't mention any guys."

"Well…." —Niku.— "I kinda forgot. But that's how I ended up outside Malik's place." She told them about the muscly thugs and their light-gun-thingy.

"That would explain about the color of your wings. And when the house started breaking." Malik stated. "By the way, this morning all the damage was gone. Like it never happened."

"Weird…. Yeah. And that bird, the jay, was blue, and it had the white moon behind it."

"The blue jay I never saw?" Ryou asked and Willow nodded, "Everything blue….think they're in league with one another?"

Yuugi piped up. "They have to be, I mean, that bird could've been a signal, right? To the guys that chased you?"

Willow laughed. "That's the first truly sensible thing you've said so far. But still, what's it all for? There has to be some sort of mastermind or prophesy-worshipping cult in charge of everything."

"Hmmm…. You're right." Ryou said. "And that just brings up ten million more questio—"

'Ding-dong ding-dong' the bell went off calling everyone to his or her next classes.

"Disappear!" Willow said, pulling the wings in. "I guess we can continue this after school."

"Okay. Then how about we meet at the game shop?" Yuugi offered. "I could brief the rest of the gang, too, and have them there as well."

"That's a good idea." Willow said. "That way they can be in on it, too."

Malik started to head toward the building. "'Kay. See you all later then!"

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

At a quarter to five the tea was served, the friends were seated, and Jonouchi was poking Willow's back incessantly. "Can I see 'em now?"

"_Fine...."_ She sighed. "Appear." A vein in her forehead was twitching mildly, but animatedly. o(--x)(the o is a little fist and slashes are wings)

"Wow," Anzu breathed. "They're so pretty."

"Yeah." Willow smirked. "Mai would have a fit, wouldn't she, with me being so similar to her beloved harpies?"

Anzu nodded in agreement. "And they have nothing to do with the shadow realm!" Yuugi piped in. "At least, as far as we can tell."

"But we do need to figure out why this has happened." Ryou said. And so began a lengthy discussion in which Willow took small part of, and began to doze off, chin in hand.

As she looked around her, a soft, but cool wind was blowing Willow's hair behind her. She looked down and saw a river, winding through farmlands, and before her was a mountain. Turning toward it, her wings tilted and carried her closer. Once Willow had gotten to the slopes she landed on a boulder and sat down, listening to the birds chirping in the bushes nearby.

As the blue sky turned green, and then yellow and orange, she began to feel cold and realized that she was only wearing the school uniform. Then a small white flake landed on her knee. Willow looked up and began to slip off the rock.

"It's snowing!" Her head fell off of her hand and the rest of the people present looked at her oddly.

"Sumimasen, Willow-san," Honda began, "but it's summer right now."

"Huh?" She blinked.

"He's right, you know." That was Jonouchi. "Where have you been?"

"Sleeping, I guess."

Yuugi got up to go to the kitchen. "We're probably not going to figure this out at this rate. Wanna watch a movie?"

"Actually, I have a late shift today, so I can't, sorry Yuugi." Anzu got up to leave.

Jonouchi and Honda were putting on their shoes at the door. "We're behind on a chemistry project."

"Well, don't rush that." Malik said. "For the sake of downtown Domino."

"And the rest of you?" Yuugi asked.

"I've got nothing going on." "Me, neither." "What movies do you have?"

"I was thinking of watching Lord of the Rings." Yuugi answered to Malik. (a/n: don't own)

Willow choked. "All nine hours of it!?!"

"Why not?" Malik and Yuugi said in unison, Malik pulling out a jumbo-sized bag of pixy-stix and Yuugi throwing a bag of popcorn into the microwave. (Needless to say, they wanted to be sleeping through all of their classes the next day)

Ryou started rubbing his temples. "Oh, kami-sama, what brought this about?" he started edging toward the door. "Did I do something wrong? Surely I don't deserve this?"

"Sure ya do!" Malik launched himself at Ryou, pulling out a rope from nowhere and deftly tying him up. "Or at least Bakura does, after all of the stuff he's stolen." He then preceded dragging poor Ryou over the carpet and deposited him on the couch.

Willow went into the kitchen to see if Yuugi needed help, laughing when Malik started stroking the bag of sugar, calling it his 'precious'. She tucked her wings in to avoid knocking anything over and just as she was going to ask Yuugi what he needed help with, he motioned to a six pack of Melon soda (his mouth was being used to open a second bag of popcorn). She returned to the living room just in time to see the artificial sugar being banished to the Shadow realm.

"Waaaah! Willow-san!" Malik cried. "Bakura took my pixy-stix!"

"Oi. Thief King." Willow said, hands on hips. "Get them back now."

"Why should I?" Kura asked, crossing his now free arms.

"Because, technically," Yami started, carrying the bags of popcorn, "you're trespassing on his soul. Are you up to a game right now?"

Bakura glared at the Pharaoh, then grumbled and called the sugar back, pulling his knees up to his chest with his arms crossed over them.

"Well," Yami said, "now that that's settled," Bakura stuck out his tongue, "We can watch the movie." He picked up the remote and started the DVD, turning on the surround sound at the same time. And so they watched. Bakura was particularly taken with Smeagol, as Malik was with Pippin. And the pharaoh, naturally, identified most with Aragorn.

As they watched, Malik, who had the most energy, would poke people at random, making sure that they were awake. Bakura had to force himself not to cry (Ryou refused to take over) when Frodo was saying goodbye to everyone, and had to rush off to the bathroom to hide the fact that he'd let one escape. When he returned, Willow ducked her head and had to stifle a laugh at the sight of his red nose. The credits started scrolling upward just after the hallway clock chimed the fourth hour in the morning. Everyone stared at Malik when he let out a snore and Bakura threw an empty popcorn bag at him. They separated shortly after, to stumble back to their own homes.

Willow, being the first one out, yelped when she sank to her knees in something cold. Something white.

"Snow?" Malik said. "How—?"

"Nature's gone berserk." Bakura replied. "July means heat here. Just like in Khemet."

Willow jumped back onto the back step. "This is freaky," she said, "and cold, too! Yugi!" she called, going back in and taking off both her shoes and her socks. "Do you have any shovels?"

"Yes," he said, coming around the corner from the stairs. "But why do you need--" his eyes widened, "--shovels?" he squeaked, seeing the snow. "Wha--?"

Willow summed up Bakura's response from a minute ago: "We don't know"

Yugi rushed off to the storeroom and came back with four shovels and two jackets. "Malik," he said, handing out the supplies, "your place is closer, so we won't need jackets, but you two will."

And they began shoveling. It was hard work, and when they got to the road they had to split up, making the process even slower. At five, the sun rose, melting some of the snow away, but Ryou and Willow's job was far from over.

Finally, exhausted, the two fell gasping on the carpet after the shoveling and a long climb (the elevators were all out of order) just in time to start getting ready for school.

"Can't we just-" Willow wheezed, "-skip it?"

Ryou shook his head. "It would look funny if-" inhale- "two people in the same class- -who live in the same home- -were both absent on the same day. Besides," he sat up: "tests are today."

"Ooh." Willow moaned. "No fair." But she got up to get ready sluggishly either way.

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

The purple flames cast purple shadows of a darkly clad figure that moved silently and stealthily to the entrance. Clicking the door shut behind, he left the room's sole occupant in darkness.

"Can we go now?" the creature hissed slowly. "they are weak, they are defenseless."

"No." a voice ordered softly, forcefully. "It is not enough. Let the day take full effect."

"Yess." The thing said. "then we go, then we attack. Kheh heh heh," it cackled. "so weak, so defenseless…."

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

"That was horrible!" Willow said as she stumbled away from the school. "Did _all_ of the teachers have to test us?"

Ryou sighed. "Apparently so."

"I don't think I've gotten even _four_ hours of sleep in the past two days, and _none_ of them would let us sleep." She yawned, then looked up. "What's this?"

Yellow tape was spread out, blocking off that road and most of the surrounding ones as well.

"A crime scene?" Ryou peered ahead in shock. "And we're just three blocks away from my house!"

Willow saw the orange sign. "The detour route goes all around several of the surrounding buildings."

It was Ryou's turn to yawn. "It looks like we have to go through the park. That way's quickest."

The park was deserted.

Not a soul was around, but for the birds in the trees. Coming up to the bridge, Willow saw something black and crumpled. "It's an umbrella." she said, picking it up, "And it's in really good shape."

"Willow!" Ryou called, at the foot of the bridge. "Come on, we're almost halfway there!"

"Okay, hold your horses."

The idiom didn't translate. "Huh?"

"Never mind. It's—" she looked up, "—snowing again."

Fat, white flakes were drifting down in a torrent, coating everything in a matter of minutes. Willow popped the umbrella open to keep the precipitation off. As she started climbing the bridge, Ryou grabbed the umbrella and held it for her. "Chivalry," He said, "is very much alive."

At the crest of the arch, they paused for a moment, to look at their snow-laden surroundings. "That didn't take long," Willow said, leaning against the low rail to cancel out a sudden wave of dizziness.

Before they could brace themselves, the ground moved the icy bridge and the two slipped: Ryou forward and Willow down. The highest point on the bridge-four and a half feet up-was positioned exactly over the deepest part of the ice-covered lake, which Willow crashed into.

Ryou, now unconscious, couldn't help Willow even though he would have wanted to.

Willow struggled in the frigid water. She hadn't had time to get any air, but when she popped back up to the top, there was a layer of air under the sheet of ice. She gasped in relief as her lungs were filled once again, but was quickly dragged down due to the weight of her waterlogged uniform and jacket.

Lungs burning, she peered around her to try and spot the hole where she fell through. Not seeing it anywhere near her, Willow kicked for the air layer once more.

Shuddering from the cold, Ryou lifted himself to his knees and looked around. There was the umbrella, yes, but where was Willow? Seeing no footprints leading away, Ryou looked in dread over the edge of the bridge.

There it was: a hole in the ice that was swiftly freezing back over. Ryou got up and removed his shoes and jacket in horror. He backed up to get a running start with what little energy he had left, when an arm wound its way around his neck. He tried fighting back, but the man held tighter and pressed a cloth to his face. Ryou tried not to breathe in, but couldn't help himself. _'I know this....,'_ he thought. _'It's....chloroform....'_ Ryou's vision blurred, but he had just enough time to shout one word.

Willow figured that she wasn't going to find the hole, so she tugged out a knife that Bakura had given her from the bow on the front of her uniform. She began to panic when she heard Ryou's muffled cry.

"Yami!"

She found a spot where she could stand and thrust upward with her last remaining strength.

Giving easily, the ice shattered as Willow's momentum carried her through. She forced her way to the shore and fell over, seeing someone standing where Ryou had been. Of course, she also saw Ryou in a heap, and thought he was dead.

Struggling to her feet, tears started pouring out of Willow, warming her face. The man on the bridge stared making his way toward her. She stopped, swaying. Two words echoed in her head: _crime scene, _as she surged forward, falling into the snow.

A small reptile bounded out of the bushes. "That wass easy, it wass." The creature hissed. "Eassy and funn." Its wings shivered in the cold. "They were weak they were, jusst ass masster ssaid."

"Yes," the man said deeply, Ryou slung over one shoulder, "Very easy."

"Come onn," the little dragon ordered. "Pick itt up, no time to lose." It fluttered up to rest atop Ryou's back. "No time to lose."

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

XP hope you liked! Bwah hah hah. R&R pretty please?


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